Is Figma alone enough to make you a UX designer?
The short answer, from my experience, is no. Figma is a powerful tool, and when I was starting out, it felt like the gateway into design. For non-professionals or beginners, Figma can do a lot, and honestly, you can choose to stop there. But over the years, as I have worked across branding, web, and product design, I have learned that knowing Figma and calling yourself a UX designer is misleading. UX design is not defined by the tool you use, but by how you solve problems that balance user needs, business goals, and technical realities.
Understanding design fundamentals, their business impact, and how design generates revenue is critical. What matters just as much, though, is how you get there. I often think of relying only on Figma as using an axe to sharpen a pencil or a razor blade to cut a tree. You may get something done, but you are forcing one tool to do jobs it was never meant to handle. UX work demands choosing the right tools for the right problems.
What UX Really Means in the Real World.
One thing I have come to accept is that companies rarely hire UX designers purely “for the user.” The real goal is almost always to make it easier for users to interact with a product so the business can increase adoption, retention, and revenue. That does not make UX less meaningful—it makes it more accountable. Research consistently shows that user-centered design leads to higher conversion rates and measurable ROI, which is why UX has become a strategic function rather than just a design role (Nielsen Norman Group, 2023).
Exploring New Horizons Beyond Figma
Figma is excellent for interface design, collaboration, and fast iteration, and I still use it heavily. However, as my work expanded into branding, detailed mockups, motion, and shipping real products, I kept running into its limits. That is when I realized that becoming a better UX designer meant becoming more tool-aware, not more tool-loyal.
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Despite being labeled “feature bloat,” Adobe tools have remained relevant throughout my work. Photoshop has been essential whenever I deal with raster-based assets and image manipulation. Illustrator has consistently been my go-to for vector graphics and brand elements, while InDesign shines in layout-heavy work such as presentations and publications. These are things I simply cannot do effectively in Figma, especially when precision and production quality matter.
Affinity Suite.
I have not spent as much time with Affinity as I have with Adobe, but the time I did spend with it left a strong impression. Affinity feels like a freemium alternative to Adobe’s holy trinity—Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign—rolled into a more accessible ecosystem.
While it is not as mature as Adobe, it is more than capable for an average designer. I use similar tools when working on brand design and detailed mockups, especially in scenarios where Figma becomes restrictive.
Protopie.
Figma does a solid job with basic prototyping, but when I wanted to push interaction design further, ProtoPie became my tool of choice. What I like most about it is its linear, logic-driven approach to prototyping. It allows me to create interactions that feel real rather than simulated, which makes a huge difference when testing flows or explaining behavior to stakeholders. For advanced prototyping, it is hard for me to justify staying in Figma alone.
Canva
Canva might surprise some people, but it has played a real role in my work. I used it at my first job to create YouTube thumbnails, and I later went deeper into simple morph animations—things that would have been unnecessarily difficult in Figma. I have also used Canva for brand identities and quick visual assets. While it is often dismissed as a “non-designer tool,” I genuinely enjoy using it for speed and simplicity when the context allows
Blender.
It would not be fair for me to leave out Blender. I found out that it is ideal for product visualization and animation. I first encountered it about a year ago, although my progress was limited by my computing power. Even so, I love what Blender represents: a community-owned, production-grade 3D tool that competes with commercial software. The learning curve is steep, especially with geometry nodes, but the creative freedom is unmatched. I have also explored simpler alternatives like Spline and Vectary, which make 3D more approachable while still being fun to use.
Adobe After Effects.
One of my biggest regrets is ignoring Adobe After Effects for so long. We are slowly moving away from static design, and motion has become a powerful way to capture attention and guide users. With shrinking attention spans, micro-interactions and movement act as scroll stoppers. While there are many tools available—such as Rive, Jitter, and DaVinci Resolve—getting comfortable with at least one motion tool has significantly changed how I think about interaction design (Google Material Design, 2023).
Google Analytics 4
Making data-driven decisions has become one of the most valuable skills in my workflow. I use Google Analytics across client work and personal projects to understand how people actually interact with what I design. Designing with data means making decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions. If you have been in the industry long enough, you probably encountered Universal Analytics at some point, which was an early lesson for me in how closely UX and data are connected.
WordPress, Webflow, and shipping real products.
Low-code tools have significantly reduced go-to-market time, and I have relied on them heavily. I first encountered WordPress in my first company, but I only decided to dive deeper into it more recently. With WordPress powering over 43% of all websites globally, it has proven useful not only for personal projects but also for client work (W3Techs, 2024). I explored Webflow as well, but eventually stepped back due to its shift toward commercial pricing and vendor lock-in, which made it harder to sustain personal projects on a budget. Tools like Wix and Squarespace are also viable alternatives when the goal is simply to get the job done.
Final thoughts: Why range matters more than one tool.
Understanding workflows is important, but understanding which tools help you reach outcomes is just as critical. Everything I have mentioned here is not exhaustive, but learning adjacent tools has made a noticeable difference in how I approach design. While I still believe in mastering Figma, I also believe that being stuck to one tool limits growth. The old saying goes, “Jack of all trades, master of none,” but it often leaves out the ending—often better than a master of one. And in my experience as a designer, that has proven to be true.
If you’re looking for a designer to collaborate with or need help bringing your next product idea to life, feel free to reach me at letstalk@njenga.dev or book a call here!
Found this insightful? Read more articles on Medium or here.
